Hot plate welding systems are known for heat welding various types of components, such as plastic seal plugs, filler necks, brackets, vent nipples and the like to thermoplastic workpieces such as fluid reservoirs and gas tanks. Typically, conventional hot plate welding systems incorporate a hot plate which operates by thermal contact to melt part of the component and/or the workpiece to a partially melted or softened state. After partial melting, the component and workpiece are moved in to physical contact and allowed to cool and fuse to attach a particular component to a gas tank, fluid reservoir or other desired finished article.
More recently, it has become desirable to mount various types of components along the interior sidewall of hollow formed workpieces. Heretofore, however, the accurate positioning and mounting/heat fusing of components to interior contact surfaces has presented challenges in ensuring that the component is accurately located at the desired position within the workpiece interior.
In one conventional manufacturing process, workpieces are formed as a two-piece construction consisting of upper and lower halves. Prior to final assembly and the joining of the workpiece halves, the selected components are pre-mounted to desired interior contact surfaces of one or both halves, and the correct component positioning is verified optically. After validation, the workpiece halves, with the components pre-mounted thereto, are then fused together along their respective edges by heat or vibration welding to form the finished article. Such manufacturing processes, however, suffer the disadvantage that the composite finished article may be subject to premature failure by reason of the partial separation of the joined seams.